The Cost of Living Fast: The Impact on Health and Well-Being
As our daily life grows ever faster, it is apparent that our disconnection is having an impact on our health and well-being. Riding the doing train, constantly shifting direction, hoping for a different outcome is taking its toll. The cost, a measurable increase in obesity, disease, aggression and mental illness in a relatively short span of time. An apparent hunger for distraction fueled by choices that often lead to breakdowns in our emotional, financial and physical well-being. So why is there little value in the present moment and genuine human connection?
In the fast lane, I notice a trading of the present moment for what might occur sometime in the future. Pulling the past into the present and often tossing it into the future leaving little opportunity for living at the only time we have, now! What is the allure of constant doing and why the fear of being present? Through action and results, the scoreboard indicates that our appetite for distraction is prompting choices that often leave us deflated, exhausted, overwhelmed and wondering why life is unsatisfying.
I understand as I spent many years living this way before noticing the impact it was having on my choices, emotional state, finances, health and happiness. Emerging from the fog, a curiosity prompted me to question why we continue boarding the same train traveling the same route expecting a new outcome. It seems intuitive that an ever increasing pace of life, being physically stagnate and perpetual doing would have a material impact on health and human performance. A cost greater than dollars and cents. Living this way and observing human behavior prompted these questions:
- How can we forget that without our health, life is empty?
- What is the intangible cost to living fast?
- What are we committed to and how can that make a difference?
I see commitment in the relationship between Community Health Charities and the more than 1,600 companies and workplaces they work with nationally. A commitment to enhancing the human experience of life where engagement, opportunity and partnership are present. My participation with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Palm Beach Area Chapter of Team in Training Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Palm Beach Area Chapter, showed me the impact this organization, its staff and participants had on those they are serve. Where raising funds makes a difference in human lives.
If each of us integrate daily physical movement, human to human connection and healthy habits, our choices, communication and relationships will make a difference.
